Category: attorney malpractice insurance

Smart attorneys recognize the need for purchasing the most comprehensive legal malpractice coverage available. Whether you are a sole practitioner or a member of a large firm, you might consider customizing your attorney professional liability insurance to get the most out of your policy.

Start With Basic Coverage

Most attorneys require some basic liability coverage. When you are customizing your plan, consider beginning with the following broad areas of protection:

Errors and Omissions Protection

Legal Malpractice Coverage

Conflict of Interest Insurance

Add Additional Protection

After your firm settles on a general insurance plan, you might consider working with a skilled insurance provider to enhance coverage. As you know, lawsuits can be extraordinarily expensive to defend. Instead of risking peace of mind, then, you might opt for the following types of coverage:

Disciplinary Defense

Subpoena Assistance

Privacy Breaches

Prior Acts Coverage

Don’t Forget Regular Business Insurance

In todays competitive legal marketplace, smart attorneys dont settle exclusively for legal malpractice coverage. Instead, they opt for a variety of protection against regular business risks. As your practice grows, then, you might consider purchasing workers compensation insurance, general business liability protection, and incidental business coverage.

To get the most out of attorney professional liability insurance, lawyers purchase coverage tailored to their specific needs. By working with a provider with considerable industry experience, attorneys effectively manage unique risks.

If malpractice allegedly occurs during a lawsuit, it can have a significant effect on its outcome. Not only that, but if the client believes the attorney is at fault for the outcome of his or her case, the attorney and their practice may suffer serious repercussions that threaten their reputation, finances, and ability to continue providing legal services. However, if the lawyer has attorney malpractice insurance, an unfortunate situation like this can be avoided.

With attorney malpractice insurance, the insurance company defends the attorney against the claims that they handled a case improperly. The policy also pays for any damages owed to the client if the attorney is found guilty of committing malpractice.

There are many ways malpractice can be carried out in the legal field. For example, an attorney can be held guilty of malpractice if a case is dismissed not because of the legitimacy of the case, but because of negligence. Malpractice can also occur when an attorney fails to adequately pursue a case or when they fail to gather enough evidence to back up their claims.

Attorneys who are practicing law without malpractice insurance should consider obtaining a policy as soon as possible to protect their reputation. If you are in this same situation, speak with an insurance professional in your area.

Comments Off on What You Need to Know About Legal Malpractice Insurance

Though only a small percentage of law firms need to file a claim with their malpractice insurance provider every year, the fact remains that anyone can make a mistake. When that mistake causes damages to a client, you need your law firm to have the very highest caliber attorney malpractice insurance possible. It is important to note that paying for the coverage is almost always more desirable than paying for the costs associated with litigation should a former client bring charges against a lawyer.

Perhaps you plan to rely on your attorneys to represent themselves should claims of malpractice be brought against them in court. This is a dubious option since in the event that the attorney does not win the case, the damages are entirely his or her responsibility without any assistance from insurance. These costs can very easily be the downfall of the lawyer or firm since they are often prohibitively exorbitant.

Do not wait until you think there may be a claim against your firm on the way before buying insurance. Most attorney malpractice insurance plans have provisions making them void if anyone in the practice knew of a potential charge when the plan was purchased. Protect your firm by researching and buying quality coverage today to be ready for any possible future.